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WILLIAM H. HOVEY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS. Letters .Patent No. 67,548, dated August 6, 1867.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY OONCERN:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM II. HOVEY, of Springfield, Hampden county, Commonwealth of Massachusette, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Brick Machines and I do hereby declare that the following is a-full and exact description thereof, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings and to the.

letters' of reference marked thereon.

The drawings forming part of these specifications are arran'ged'upon plates 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Figure I, plate 1, represents a front view of my improved machine.

Figure 2, plate 2, a. side view.

Figure 3, plate 3, a .plan View of the underV gearing.

Figures 4, 5,-6, 7, 8, detail views of p arts of .myinvention on plate 4. This: invention consists of a new and improved arrangement of the brick machinepatented by me February 16, 1866,-some of the paxts'and principles of which I use, substituting improvements in the place of others. i

In construction,-I form my new machine upon a frame, A A, composed of suitable material, having a hopper, B, with erushers C C', through which the clay passes, and is ground tine; and a longer hopper, D, where the'clay is received from the crushers C C', and worked up into the proper consistency for making brick. -In the bottom of the hopper D are two openings E E', through which the clay falls into channels or chambers FFI, nwhich 'work Han-ges G Gi', these latterforc'rng the clay that 'falls in the chambers F F through the dies and out to the action of the knives H H and HV H', which cut the mass of clay so forced out into the proper lengths for brick. The device for working the clay in the hopper D consists of a. main shaft, I, passing up vertically through the centre of the hopper D, and having 'set into it, .at proper dis-l tances apart, arms or' knives a. a a, Snc., which, as the` shaft I revolves, stir-up and work the clay. This is shown in fig. 4, plate 4, where is also shown my device for sweeping the ground clay into the channels F F', through the openings E E. This consists of arms 6 b', set into the shaft I, and having teeth c c c', Ste., set into them, at a suitable'angle, between the horizontal and vertical. One of these, as the shaft I revolves, sweeps the clay into the chambers, through the openings, causing them to be more surely and evenly filled, the other performing apart shown hereafter. The plungers Gr G work alternately, and are attached to and operated directly by-a walking-beam, J, each end of which is connected w-ith o'ne of the plungers by means of connecting rods K K. The beam J is fastened at its centre upon a vertical shaft, T, working. in bearings L L, at the back of the machine. A'recprocating motion is given to this shaft by means which I will now describe. At the lower end of the main shaft I is attached a large gear-wheel, M, which is operated by a. pinion, N, upon a sh aft, O, underneath the hopper. Now upon the vertical shaft T is a crank, P, which is placed under the walking-beam J. Thiscrank tits loosely upon the shaft T, and has attached to its end a connecting-rod, R, having its other end pinned upon the lower side of the gear-wheel M, thus'forming a cranktha-when the wheel Ml revolves, Works the arm q backwards and forwards. The'crank-arln P can be Vattached to the shaft T by means of a'clutch upon the'same, consisting of a sleeve, d, which is movable up and down upon the shaft T, but cannot be turned upon it. This sleeve has a dog, f, at its top edge, which ts, when the sleeve is raised, into a .notch or slot in the lowe'r edge of the lcrank-rod P. The lower edge of the sleeve d has cam surfaces, which correspond with similar ones upon the top edge of a collar, ep, also around tbe shaft J. These cam-teeth mesh in with each other in one position, allowing the sleeve d to slip down, leaving/ the shaft J and crank-arm P ungeared, but by turning the collar e the sleeve d is elevated, and clutches the crank-arm P, connecting the same to the shaft T.

l. The object of lthis arrangement is to allow the grinding and working portion of the machine to act upon 4 the clay, without the plungers operating to force it out into bricks before it has been brought to the proper consistency. This is usually necessary when the clay is first put into the hcppers. When the clay is forced through 4the channels F F by the plungel's, it has to pass through dies g g before it is cui'. off by the knives.

These dies I form in a peculiar shape, so as to cause the clay to uiove through at all parts with the same rapidity. This form is shown in figs. 5 and 6, plate 4, where it is seen that the front openings of thc dies, where the clay comes out, lare' formed in a parallelogram, being the width and thickness of a. brick. The rear openings of these, however, where'the clay goes in, are oval in shape, and the four points forming the corners of the parallelogram in front, are found in the linev of the oval, so that there is a. taper from rear to front at all parts except the corners. This is necessaryin order that the clay should come'o'ut even and iirm at the corners, for were the diesnot formed in this manner the corners of the 'brick so made would be cracked und uneven.

The knives for cutting oi' the brick are operated by gearingarranged in the following manner: vA bevelled gear-wheel, U, is attached to the top of the main shaft I, and operates a similar wheel set upon :reha-ft. V, running horizontally. Across the' top of the machine, onv the front end of the .shaft V, are set two pulleys andj, the one, z', operating two mo're pulleyslc lc, upon the shaftsfl l. having the knives H H and H H by means of a chain-gear, W, passing around them, and the one, j, a similar gearing which turns thegrinders CIC. These pulleys are all of the same size, andare constructed in the for-m shown in iig. 7, plate 4, with projections 1, 2, 3, and 4, for the links of the chain to\pull lagainst. Each of the shafts ZZ has a pair of' knives, which areplaced so upon the shafts that the'edges'oiieach'pair as the shafts ZZ revolve 4the knives, lturn with them, passing, as they come around, through groove-spo o o o inv the troughs 'n n?, along which the claypasses after coming through the formers. vThe gearing of tlic whole machine is arranged so as to be automatic, andthese vknives do not pass across the troughs n 'n' until the plunger of either' side, as the ense may be, hasiorc'ed its load of clay out into its troughs, and left it theretb be cut off, thc knives only cutting while' the clay is stationary, when tliel same operation is repeated in a siipilar manner'on the other side.

The'blades ofthe knives are arranged upon thel'ihaits in such Va manner as to allow them to back should they meet any impenetrable obstruction in th'clay, and so preventing them from being broken o or the machine clogged'. The manner of so arranging thes'e'knives is shown in fig. 8, of plate 4,'where the blade p is riveted at g, upon the haft 1', the latter being attached firmly to the shaft l. A strong coil spring `is attached to the haft by a screw, s, having the outer end of the '..coil 4attached to or resting against a4pin t, set in the blade of the knife. A The blade is prevented from beingforeed forward by the spring, by'means of a pin, u, set in the haft, and Aagainst which the projection v of theblade rests..

In iig. 4, plate 4, where two sweeps are shown, consisting of the arms b b', with teeth ccc, Ste., it is shown that only one of these sweepsoperutes directly to ill the openings in the bottom ofthe hopper, as bythe automatic arrangement of parts one of the pl'ungers is occupying its chamber` immediately beneath the opening'at the same time that one of the sweeps passes over it, so that one of these fills the chambers, while the other merely passes arou'ind and stirs up the clay, leaving it loose audrcady for the operation of the other sweep.

The operation of this .machine is as follows: The grinders C C', at the bottom of the hopper B, being adjusted as desired, by means of the set-screws W W, operating the sliding-bearings :I: x, of the grinder C', ,the clay is put into the hopper B, where it is ground ne and fallsthrough into the hopper D, where it is worked up thoroughly by the arms onpthe shaft I. The plungers are then .thrown into gear by the clutch, already described, and the clay is forced out through the dies in proper quantities at a time. As the clay comes 'out and remains in the troughs, the knives cut it into the proper lengths, and the bricks so formed are .pushefLout on the' shelf in front of the troughs and taken ofi` by the operator. l l

By altering the dies in various forms, any variety of shape can be given t'o the brick, and -mouldin5 1;s'of` any length produced, by ungearing the knives and allowing the clay to p ass on without cutting it of. The

superior arrangement of the vmachinery used in my device, -and the excellentquality oi' the brick madeiby it, I

render it a: great improvement in machines of this class.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is 1. The combination of the lever-beam J, plungers G G', and connecting-rods K K', arranged and connected substantially as shown.

2. The combination and automatic arrangement of the parts as follows: The gear-wheel'M, operating the crankarm P, and main shaft I, the latter turning the shaft V, with its pulleys and j, and chain-gear, operating4 the .revolving knives H H H H', and crushers C C', the whole substantially as shown. l

3. One or'more sweeps, consisting of the arms b b, having teeth c c c, one of them operating automatically with the plungers, so that it fills the chambers alternately with clay, when the plunger of each chamber has recedcd in turn; this or these in combination with the plungers Gr and G.

I 4. I claim the peculiar shape of the dies g g", so that they taper from anellipse to a parallclogram, the 'width and thickness of the brick desired, tapering at the sides, but not at tlie corners, substantially as shown.

5. Arranging the plungcrs G G,` so that ,they may be thrown out of gear, allowing the clay to bcground and worked, but not pressed into brick.

6. The revolving knives H H H H', in combination with the troughs'rt n', having the grooves o o o, arranged substantially as shown.V I VWM' `HI HOVEYl-I Witnesses:l

EDWARD H. HYDE,- lR. F. Hyun. 

